Nearly boating time again...
 

So today an oil and filter change, a top-up for the gearbox and Bowman tank and a general once-over. My engine is a little BMC 1.5 litre diesel which is a joy to work on.

https://i.imgur.com/JhnXLgHl.jpg

I'm probably going to head off at the end of March or beginning of April. Don't know where I'm going yet but possibly Liverpool with a diversion along the Caldon canal on the way. It's been a long Winter at work so I'm looking forward to 4-5 months just idling. :}

Looking good for the start of the season:bowdown:

Where do you normally cruise your boat and what is she may I ask?

We use Lady Emma all through the year although I haven't had a chance to get up to her since the end of December.

I am hoping to get her lifted later in the year for a bottom scrub, anti foul and new anodes.
Also her new BSS is due this year as well and both engines will need servicing.

I go all over. Last year I went down on the Anderton boat lift and spent a month on the River Weaver then went to Llangollen, the year before across the Ribble Link and to the end of the Lancaster Canal, then into Liverpool and had a week in Salthouse Dock, right in the city centre. The year before that down the Grand Union Canal to London, did the tidal Thames from Limehouse to Teddington (which was buttock-clenching and amazing at the same time), then back via the Oxford Canal, the year before that Gloucester and Sharpness.

The boat itself (which I live on all year round) is a 42' Peter Nicholls trad stern narrowboat (or "sewer tube"!) built in 1986. I have a mooring in Warwickshire, work half the year (in Winter) and go boating all Summer, normally Easter to September.

https://i.imgur.com/rTaGBd4l.jpg

While I'm on, a big shout-out to BMC for putting the water pump and thermostat in such a sensible place, unlike the idiots who designed my Rover engine. :}

What a wonderful way to live life